How sandiego started their logo design journey

Summary

AroundandAboutSanDiego.com offers virtual tours of attractions in San Diego. We are working on a new site design and would like a new logo that is representative of San Diego's fun in the sun attitude.

Company name

AroundandAboutSanDiego.com

What inspires you and how do you envision the design for your business?

We want the logo to be casual and to include an illustration with the items listed below. Because the domain name is so long it might be more suitable to have the illustration be above the text but we are open to seeing an illustration to the left or worked into the text.

File Format

We want the logo to be in a vector format like that produced by Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator.

Type / Font

We like sans fonts and casual fonts. Please make the brand name AroundandAboutSanDiego.com a major component of the design that is it should be at least as wide as the illustration. We want repeat customers to remember our site both for the illustration /favicon and the brand name.

Colors

Two colors maybe best. Orange for the sun, maybe a blue but we are ok with one or two colors.

Illustration

The illustration should look good in black and white and not rely on gradients that will not convert well. Here are some designs I saw with comments about what we like/dislike.

Examples

I like the font on this one and that the .com is tucked away under the letter o. The illustration is too casual for my tastes.
- http://99designs.com/contests/2173/entries/124848I like the font colors and the laid back feel of this logo, and the .com flows nicely off of the illustration
- http://99designs.com/contests/2173/…es/123826I like that this included an illustration with multiple elements,but I want an illustration that includes the items listed below.
- http://99designs.com/contests/2173/…ies/123935
- Laist.com has a simple yet effective illustrationFavicon

It would be nice if the illustration could double as a favicon

Feedback

Please read the feedback I leave on your designs and others to get more insight into the vision as may or may not apply to your design.

Wants

- downtown city skyline or outline of buildings can resemble San Diego's skyline but it does not have to be a picture representation. You can see the bayfront skyline here:
- http://media.prleap.com/image/212/f…kyline.jpg
- sun
- water lines or wave ripples from a bay
- bridge representing the Coronado bridge in San Diego
- possibly a whale somewhere in the bay referenced above if you think it makes the illustration stronger otherwise not necessary